Need some help

[eudielynn]

My betta, Batista that is in the 2 gal tank by himself has somehow shredded his caudal fin to the point he almost looks like a crowntail - he's a VT. This must have happened last night, he was fine when I went to bed. There is nothing sharp in his tank at all. I have a terracotta pot, a silk plant, a thermometer, a heater and gravel in the bottom. The only thing I can figure is that he did it himself. There are no pieces of fin in the bottom of the tank. They are just gone!!! This is only on his caudal fin, so I don't think it's from the gravel since his anal fin drags on the gravel all the time, but it is fine.

I found some blackwater extract at Petsmart, but it is about 50 miles away so I will have to wait until Friday to get it. Right now I have changed his water (I do 50% water changes on Wednesday and 100% on Saturdays) and put some salt in there. The temp is steady at 80 degrees.

I do not see any signs of disease. He is a dark blue so I would notice any fungus or white spots on him I'm sure. I used the flashlight to check for velvet and did not see any signs of that either. He is by himself, so no one else is chewing on him.

He is eating and swimming fine, but I can't imagine what caused this all of a sudden. Even if he is doing it to himself, I don't know why. Any ideas/suggestions.

 

[WILDER]

Never kept betta but i can leave you a link to look at.
http/www.mushi.petfish.net/finrot.html

 

[eudielynn]

Doesn't look like finrot to me. There is no discoloration, darkness or transparancy to the fin, there is only one fin affected, and I am talking HUGE chunks gone overnight. I have seen finrot on another betta before (not mine) and it just didn't look the same. That's why I thought he might be doing it to himself.

Should I go ahead and treat for finrot even if I am not sure? If so, any suggesstions as to what works best?

 

[WILDER]

It should grow back if he's done it to him self, good luck.

 

[Kiarra]

I think he ate it.....

Well, if you can get the Blackwater Extract, it might also help to prevent him from doing it to himself again, if he did in fact do it to himself in the first place. It calms them, and I would think chewing off his own tail would be a sign of stress.

So...stress. Have you changed anything for him lately?

In the meantime, it sounds like what you've done is right, and I don't see a point in doing anything more unless you want to add something like Bettafix or Colloidal Silver to the water. His fins will heal if he'll leave them alone.

 

[BettaMomma]

Hi.
Does it look like this:

?

 

[WILDER]

It reminds me of people who keep birds in cages, and through the boredom and stress, pluck there feathers off.

 

[eudielynn]

No, I haven't made any changes, he is in the same tank, in the same place, and has the same things in his tank that he has had since I got him. One thing I did remember though, after reading someone else's post is that the last time I did a water change I noticed that some of the paint seemed to be coming off his gravel. I didn't notice it in the water, but there are places on his white gravel that are now dark. I wonder if the paint could be irritating him? But if so why only on the caudal fin? I am at my wits end trying to think what could have caused it.

BM - No, no transparent areas, only big chunks missing. ARRRRGHHHH!

 

[WILDER]

Is the gravel dyed.

 

[eudielynn]

Wilder - it must be painted, because the color is coming off. If it was dyed, I would think the color would be all the way through the gravel wouldn't it? It is regular aquarium gravel and I washed it like crazy before I put it in, I have only noticed the color change since my last water change.

 

[BettaMomma]

BM - No, no transparent areas, only big chunks missing. ARRRRGHHHH!

Those are big chunks missing on the end of his tail!

He's eating his tail - Kiarra's right.
It happened to Amos here - he did it because he was VERY unhappy with his new home. Both Harvey and Archie have done it at home because they were very unhappy with the constant fluctuations in their temps of their water.

One thing you can try is to rearrange his tank when you give him a water change - or add a new toy (a rock arch, a new plant, something) - or give him new things to look at outside his tank.

You haven't done anything wrong, he's probably just bored.
I went through what you're going through racking my brain trying to figure out what on earth was happening to Amos. I caught him eating his tail one day - he curled up into an O shape, latched onto his tail and shook his head in one big jerk and ripped a hunk off - then sucked it in and chomped his head up and down and ATE IT. It made me CRAZY to see that.

So... does he love it when you give him tons of attention right up by his tank? Does he snakedance for you? Where do you keep him right now? Maybe you could move his tank so he gets more or less attention than he does now - try things and see if it improves. The good news is that with some sparkly clean water and salt, it will grow back really fast. But you will have to figure out why he's doing it to begin with - and that's usually the hardest part.

 

[BettaMomma]

I brightened up the picture more, so you can see it better:

It can also look like someone pushed a rake down into his tail and dragged it out to the ends - like it's just shredded.

 

[eudielynn]

OMG!!! You watched him take a hunk out? Oh no!! Now I can see the chunks out. Yes, that's just what Batista's looks like.

It could be that he is bored. I have him in my bedroom to keep him away from noise and commotion, and he is in there by himself most of the day. I could bring him into the living room or kitchen and see if that helps. I will rearrange his tank when I get home and see if that will distract him any.

 

[BettaMomma]

Yeah, it was pretty unnerving.
It was disgusting. Just like a carnivorous animal ripping a leg off another animal.

LOL - well maybe not quite that gross, but the worst part was that he ATE it.

Does your temperature fluctuate at all in the tank?
The only other thing I can think of is that he might be torked off if your bedroom is dark all day long, too. Is it?

 

[eudielynn]

Yes, it's pretty dark. I have dark drapes on the windows, and the house is surrounded by trees, so unless someone comes in and turns a light on, it is pretty dark. I left the light on in his tank at first, but it made the sides of his tank reflective and he was flaring at himself too much so I stopped doing that.

As for the temp, right now it is staying at about 80, but my heater doesn't have a control on it and I have to watch it like a hawk. I even call the hubby three or four times a day and have him check it for me. The highest I have ever seen it is 82, and then I pull the plug immediately until it drops a few degrees. Do you think that could be part of it?